1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to food containers and, specifically, to an improved container for packaging fragile or brittle food substances that enables a consumer to view the food in the container without having to open it.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
In the packaging and container field, and specifically as the field relates to food substances, artisans have continually sought solutions to the problem associated with packaging brittle or fragile food substances for human consumption. Agitation of the container and its contents during shipping and handling frequently damages the food substance to varying degrees. The degree of damage is of course dependent upon the forces applied to the container and the extent to which the container prevents the forces from acting upon the contents.
In the Mexican food industry, these problems are magnified where corn is processed into a substance having a brittle consistency and a particular configuration, such as taco shells. Conventionally processed taco shells are known to be very brittle and easily damaged which, unlike many other food substances, not only results in a non-aesthetic appearance, but also in a non-useful food product. Obviously, if the shells are broken, they cannot appropriately hold the other food substances that are commonly placed within the shells. A consumer would thereby have little use for them. Compounding this problem is that fact that consumers desire to be able to see the shells without opening the packaging so that they can determine, before purchasing, whether the shells have already been broken due to handling and shipping.
One prior method of packaging taco shells includes contiguously aligning, or stacking, the shells with respect to each other and merely placing them in a cardboard container with a cellophane wrapping sealed about the container. A major disadvantage with that packaging is that the shells freely contact the cardboard interior walls upon shipping and handling. They are also free to separate from one another, causing a loss of the support they would otherwise provide to each other. The result is significant breakage.
Another packaging method provides contiguously aligned shells have a wedge shaped cardboard element disposed between the interior surfaces of one shell. The shells and such cardboard element are then sealed by a cellophane element and then placed within a cardboard box. While the wedge element minimizes the damage that might otherwise occur to the shell disposed about the wedge shaped element, and perhaps some of the immediately adjacent shells, all the shells remain free to impact the interior surfaces of the cardboard box during handling and shipping.
A need still exists in the art to provide an improved container for packaging brittle food substances and particularly taco shells.